This is a health post, and if you are not into that after this horrendous year, I will understand and you can move on.
Yet, our local physicians which run a private office within small practices are pretty much normal people, some with exceptional skills and others counting down the days until they can retire, with most of them in a mediocre middle. Within a rural community this is even more so.
I have written about this dibilitating cough that I started to get over a year ago. It is the kind of dry cough that cannot be muffled and sometimes ends with a gag or at other times a raging sneezing fit and other times weeping eyes. Because I am home 99% of the time, I have not had to leave a room or face embarassment. It would occur even in the evenings when I was sleeping. Some nights I was awakened every two hours. It has been a year since I have had more than 4 hours of continued sleep. My primary sent me to an ENT who had me x-rayed as well as sent a camera through my nasel passage and down my throat. Since she found nothing, she sent me to an allergist. I had already spent over a month tracking what I ate and what I breathed, etc. purchasing a $200 room filter and last spring even leaving my house for a trip for a number of days to see if it was the house and nothing changed in each instance. I have no fever and no loss of appetite.
The allergist ran those two dozen skin test pricks on my inside arm and said I was allergic to a number of things including polllens, but nothing severely. ( I know that I am severly allergic to cat dander!)
He then started me on a nerve medication, something you give to someone who is under stress and needs tranquilzing. No side effects after a month and also no reduction in coughing 8-10 times daily and then through the night. We changed to a second nerve medication and he said that coughs can be VERY hard to find the cause. A month of the second nerve medication and no side effeccts and no reduction in cough. I had to be taken off it gradually as it did make me dizzy and I had a waking dream the day after! He then tried a third medication which did not reduce the cough but the warned side effect of anxiety and temper did kick in and I told him after two weeks, I was no longer taking it as I was getting murderous! We are a fragile chemical factory!
At my most reent visit (four months after my initial visit) he prescribed a blood test (I was too tired to ask what he was looking for although I did ask if it could be a fungus) and also a CT Scan. He called last week and said they did find an infection in the top two sinus cavities by my eyes! I then was put on a 10 day course of antibiotics and a 5 day course of a steroid. I immediately called to explain that I was getting my second Covid Moderna shot in two days and wondered about the wisdom of being on a steriod ... my understanding that it suppressed the immune reaction. He agreed I should only take the antibiotic. I was thinking that ALL doctors should have COVID in the back of their mind with every patient when they are prescribing these days as many patients do not research their meds!
Anyway, I am on my 4th day of the antibiotic and the cough has been cut by about 30% and usually is not so intense. But the cough has not gone away. I got no reaction to my second Covid shot except for a sore arm muscle and what seems to be two days of fatigue. I have taken advantage of this being a test tube to try to nap each day and rest generally by doing nothing this whole weekend as I have not felt super energetic. I MUST do some exercise on Monday. Tonight is take-out unhealthy pizza.
Anyway, I am so tired of being a guinea pig in this process and exhausted as it has been a whole year of this cough. I have my fingers crossed and the doctor recommends taking the sterioids in about 9 days. Wish me luck! As someone who had fought food poisoning while living overseas and dengue fever while overseas on a tropical island...under mediocre medical care, I was unprepared for this.
Wow, I am glad they found something that might be the cause of the cough. And congratulations on being fully vaccinated! I am wishing you luck, as you requested. Hope this does the trick. I look forward to hearing more in the future.
ReplyDeleteI feel your frustration. I have had severe hoarseness for over 2 months now. I can barely communicate on the telephone. My doctor is trying me on a strong amount of antacid. He thinks I may have GERD I guess. I have very seldom in my life even had heartburn. I guess he is starting with the easiest most common treatment. Two weeks now and it isn't helping yet.
ReplyDeleteI hope you have found the cause of your cough. Take care.
Prayers
ReplyDeleteInternet searches brings up lots of results. Searching, I believe, can often be helpful. Not all doctors, keep up with medical journals and news, based on my experiences.
I get a cough now and then, with some chest pain. I've been to the doctor a few times but they don't know -- post nasal drip? GERD? allergy? As long as it's not lung cancer I can live with it.
ReplyDeleteYou are a medical mystery. That's no fun at all. Wishing you luck in finding the solution.
ReplyDeleteIt seems like the little things (not little to you) can be difficult to track and deal with. I go through a similar thing. All the best.
ReplyDeleteLit's try this medication and if it works we'll assume it's this. If it doesn't, let's guess another drug. To be crude about it, seems ass backwards.
ReplyDeleteI hope the antibiotic continues to cut the coughing. It must be frustrating beyond belief, with the cough and the lack of solution from the medical profession. I hope a cure is close at hand.
ReplyDeleteI do hope that he has found the problem. that kind of cough for so long is just exhausting. my father was a pathologist and he held a healthy skepticism of doctors in general which he passed along to my sister and I. why do you think they call it a practice, he would say. it's because they practice on you, they don't really know. and it sure seems borne out by your experience.
ReplyDeleteI worked in pulmonary diagnostics for 50 years, and a chronic cough is one of the toughest things to pinpoint a cause. The prednisone has lots of side effects for many patients. You might suggest you get a pulmonary function test, particularly spirometry before and after bronchodilator, and a diffusing capacity (DLCO).
ReplyDeleteDid the CT scan go from the top of your head to the knees. You might ask if there is a reason to call for a MRI? MRI"s show things in more detail. George has a cough just like yours. And you know that I am an expert cougher.
ReplyDeleteDid not know you were an expert cougher. It was a "cheap" san and just my head. What was the cause of George's cough?
DeleteHe has to go back for my tests. I'm an expert as I now have stage 4 lung cancer.
DeleteMay the antibiotic and steroid clear up your sinuses so you can be done with this cough!
ReplyDeleteOh my gosh! I'm so sorry you're going through this awful time. My husband has also been having a difficult time with a cough and stuffy sinuses. He thinks it's caused by one of his medications. He'll be seeing his doctor next week and we'll see what she says.
ReplyDeleteI certainly wish you luck in finding a cause for what must be a terrible disruption to daily life. I couldn't cope with life with interrupted sleep, you sound like you are coping with your sense of humour intact. Hang in there!
ReplyDeleteSending you crossed fingers and luck so that you may get relief from this tenuous cough. I also learnt from an earlier post that my cough was down to GERD and have altered my diet, sort of working. It is good to belong to a wide range of bloggers.
ReplyDeleteWow, hope it works. Did they rule out Valley Fever. Our neighbor, who has always lived in Tucson area, kept going to the doctor for his symptoms (not sure what they were) but finally one doctor checked for that and it was what it was. They treated it and he was then fine. So much of medicine and the body are unknown even today.
ReplyDeleteYears ago I had the same cough. Now I cannot remember how it finally ended but they put me through all that same stuff. I only know it did finally end. I have a huge list of medications, so maybe one of them fixed it but I don't have a clue which one did. Hope your cough will disappear very soon.
ReplyDeleteToday I am having a pizza for lunch...not completely take-out/take-away, but a frozen one from the supermarket, upon which I've added a lot more toppings...sliced tomatoes, mushrooms, capsicums, bacon, onion and loads of grated cheese! :)
ReplyDeleteDid I mention that I was totally unprepared for stage 4 lung cancer? Did you say you were taking a blood pressure med?
ReplyDeleteI am taking a blood pressure medicine...changed it to another brand because of my cough. It is not an ACE inhibitor. How on earth does anyoe prepare for any stage of cancer? Love you!
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